Maintenance

[BenniusCaesar]

How do you calculate it?

I know it's clearly based on size and development of a city and its distance from palace. But in civ3 you could do an easy cost benefit analysis of building a new building (eg. this marketplace will cost me 1 gold but return at least 4).

Can you do this in civ4? I'm not sure how to calculate whether building a building will bring only marginal benefit or in fact leave me worse off. For me it's just been gut feel and estimates so far and I'm winning easily on Noble level. But I want to move up and 'gut feel' probably won't cut it at high levels.

 

[Artanis]

It is NOT based on size and development of a city.

Let me repeat that for emphasis: it is not based on size and development of a city.

The only two things that city maintainance is based on are 1) number of cities you own, and 2) how far that city is from the nearest palace/forbidden palace/versailles. Adding another building to a city will NEVER cost you ANYTHING except what other stuff you might've spent those hammers on. The benefit from a building might be marginal, but it will NOT leave you worse off.

 

[BenniusCaesar]

So am I confusing maintenance with upkeep then? What is upkeep determined by? It seems strange that you can build as many building as you like and never pay for them once they're built?

 

[Firebot]

There is no 'upkeep' in Civ 4 like there was in previous Civ games. You pay for the cities, how many you have and how distanced they are, but not for the buildings / improvements in the cities. You also pay for military units that are in 'surplus' based on your difficulty (i.e. you get 12 free units, but each units after costs 1 maintenance cost. You also have military supply maintenance, where you pay for military units which are outside of your borders.

 

[BenniusCaesar]

I see it now. Sorry I should have searched more before I posted that. Wow so there is no reason not to build every building in every city regardless of the type of city. It's really only the order of building that you would change.

 

[MyOtherName]

The size does affect maintenance. I watch my maintenance costs go down all the time when I pop rush stuff.

Wow so there is no reason not to build every building in every city regardless of the type of city.

Except that you might be better off building military instead.

 

[Artanis]

I see it now. Sorry I should have searched more before I posted that. Wow so there is no reason not to build every building in every city regardless of the type of city. It's really only the order of building that you would change.

If the benefit is marginal enough, then the opportunity cost of producing that building would make it better not to build it in the first place. For example, putting a Bank in a city that's only generating 2 gold per turn isn't going to do you a whole lot of good. In a case like that, it's better to put the 200 hammers towards a Tank.

When I get Domination victories on Standard-sized maps, it's very common for me to have three or four cities without a bank, library, university, observatory, or even harbor in them because those cities are so heavily specialized towards hammer generation that they don't bring in squat for those buildings to work with.

 

[RandomInsanity]

you pay for units, right?

 

[Archbob]

The distance thing really does Hurt as I find. Thats why I always opt for state property in the end, that and the +1 food from watermills.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

you pay for units, right?

Yes, you pay for 4 things:

Your units (you pay less the more population you have)

Your cities (based on Number of Cities, reduced by courhouses in cities)

Your cities distance from capital (based on how far a city is AND its population, reduced by courthouses)

Your Civics (based on your civics, total population, AND number of cities Organized trait reduces it)

 

[Artanis]

you pay for units, right?

Erm...sorta yes and no. Mostly yes.

You get a certain number of units "free", meaning that number of units won't cost you anything. How many "free" units you get depends mostly on empire size (I don't know exactly what aspect of empire size off the top of my head though ). For every unit beyond that number of "free units", you have to pay to keep them.

For example, say you get 30 units "free". Having 25 units won't cost you a dime. Having 30 units won't either. Having 45 units, however, will leave you paying 15 units' worth of upkeep costs.


Units cost more to support when they're outside your empire or, even worse, inside an enemy's borders. Pacifism will also tack on another 1 gpt per unit, regardless of what your "free" cap is.